Don’t stress out, but April is Stress Awareness Month, which means we’re going to talk about stress, specifically, the stress in youth and how to support them. Stress is a response to external factors that your mind and body perceive as challenging or threatening, which causes the “fight, flight, or freeze” response. Everyone experiences stress, it is …
Tag: Mental health
May 10
Promoting Youth Mental Health Through Social-Emotional Learning in Schools and Youth Programs
With everything that has happened in the past two years, it is no secret that the mental health of our youth is important. There are a variety of ways to support youth mental health: from counseling and therapy to self-care techniques and simply listening and spending time with them. Another vital strategy that can help …
May 09
5 Ways to Support LGBTQ Youth Mental Health
There seems to be an attack on the LGBTQ community in recent years, especially on our already vulnerable LGBTQ youth. I wish I was exaggerating, but an article published by the Human Rights Campaign last year declared that “2021 Officially Became the Worst Year in Recent History for LGBTQ State Legislative Attacks,” stating that more than 250 …
May 05
How to Support Youth Mental Health
Think back to when you were a child, a teenager, or both. You may not want to remember, I certainly don’t, or maybe you are remembering right now, but try to truly remember how it was. Were you happy overall? Was it hard? Or was it a mix of both? Did you wish you had …
Mar 30
Minority Stress Effect & The Impact on LGBTQIA+ Youth
What is the Minority Stress Effect? The Minority Stress Effect is a model used to assess how the dominant group’s values stack up and affect the minority groups’ values. In our society, the dominant discourse is white, heterosexual and male. This means that in the United States, the “norm” is centered around those people, what makes them …
Aug 16
5 Meaningful Ways to Support Youth This School Year
August 2021 marks the return to school for the majority of students across the U.S. For most school districts, this means in-person learning, and for some, this will be their first offline learning experience in 18 months. The progress in protections from COVID-19 through vaccines, social distancing measures, and other safety protocols has recently been …
May 03
Supporting Youth Mental Health: The Do’s & Don’ts
May is National Mental Health Month. This month is set aside to help raise awareness regarding mental health concerns. As we approach the halfway mark of 2021, the world is continuing its efforts to recover from the enormously stressful, bleak, and traumatizing impacts of 2020. People are coping with the continued threat of COVID-19 and …
Feb 15
Equity in Education: COVID’s Impact on Youth Education Part II
COVID-19 has shattered any global sense of stability. It has impacted social interactions, entertainment, travel, business, food service, and education for everyone. As individuals and communities continue to work towards building a new sense of normalcy, education continues to struggle. Teachers are experiencing intense levels of stress and burnout as they attempt to teach virtually, …
Feb 12
Equity in Education – COVID’s Impact on Youth Education
The nation was turned upside down in March 2020 when the President of the United States declared a national emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic was only beginning to sweep the world. In an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, stay-at-home orders were put in place: any operations deemed nonessential were halted, work-from-home lifestyle …
Sep 23
Key Quotes from Social Good Summit 2016 – Day Two
What an amazing two days at the Social Good Summit 2016. From the Vice President calling on us to challenge the way we manage cancer research to Demi Lovato sharing her challenges with mental illness and addiction, the US policies around social issues were pushed into a global conversation. Besides the celebrity ambassadors, there were …